British Airways plans to expand its flight schedule for the second wave of strikes by its cabin crew from this weekend, the airline announced last night.
Less than 18 hours after thousands of Unite members ended a three-day walkout, BA said it will run a full operation at Gatwick during the next strikes, all flights from London City and extended services from Heathrow.
The firm said 55 per cent of short-haul and 70 per cent of long-haul flights will operate from Heathrow during the four-day walkout from this Saturday.
The airline said it will continue to supplement its short-haul schedule by leasing up to 11 aircraft with pilots and crews each day of the action from six different airlines based in the UK and Europe.
BA said customers who were booked on flights that have now been cancelled will be offered seats on alternative British Airways flights or on services operated by other airlines or offered a full refund.
The airline said it was available to hold further talks with the Unite union, adding that it wanted customers to have advance notice of its flying schedule to remove uncertainty and allow sufficient time for alternative travel arrangements to be made.
"British Airways has again made arrangements with more than 60 other carriers, so that customers can be rebooked free of charge on to their flights if they had been due to travel on a BA flight that has been cancelled," said a company statement.
British Airways' chief executive officer Willie Walsh said: "The biggest contingency plan in our history went extremely well last weekend, with large numbers of cabin crew reporting for work as normal."
BA said its flight programme was complex, involving 230 aircraft operating up to 650 services every day to or from 140 cities in more than 70 countries.
Customers were advised to check ba.com on a regular basis to see if their flight is still operating before departing for the airport.
Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, said: "Passengers will take one look at next weekend's strike schedule and rightly ask what on earth is going on. This schedule has more holes than a Swiss cheese.
"Is BA really saying that it would rather hit the travel plans of tens of thousands of people for another weekend than negotiate a settlement?
"Passengers are paying for management machismo. BA management should spend more time on addressing their employees' concerns and less on fantasy schedules sending empty planes to unknown destinations."
BA said the three-day strike which ended at midnight last night cost it £21 million and appears to be braced for similar losses during the next strikes.